PRAYER PRACTICE
SPOKEN PRAYER: Out loud, pray for God to speak to you through your reading. Praise God for giving us His word. Ask the Spirit to help you read with faith, and to live out what you hear from God through the passage.
REFLECTION
Who Would Have Thought?
by Pr. Dave Mann
God’s faithfulness is the main theme of the Bible, from cover to cover. Yes, there are moments of human heroism, by God’s grace, but often those very heroes also have significant failings as well – Noah, the drunkard; Moses, the murderer; David, the adulterer; Elijah, the whiner; Peter, the denier; Thomas, the doubter; etc. But God’s faithfulness is woven throughout every story.
Another subplot is the persistence of evil and the dangers of living on this earth. The story of Moses starts off on a discordant note. Because Pharaoh is fearful of the rapidly reproducing Israelites, he concocts a diabolic plan to eliminate all the baby Hebrew boys. But God has another plan, which actually uses the nefarious plot.
Moses’ mom hides her fine baby for as long as she can, but when he is three months old, she can no longer hide him. So she applies pitch to a wicker basket so that it will float and she lets it go with the precious cargo afloat on the Nile. A good study Bible will note that the Hebrew word used here for “basket” is the same word used in Genesis 6 for “ark” – two very different vessels, but both used to save innumerable lives eventually.
After some time (God’s angels holding back who knows how many crocodiles and other predators), the basket is discovered by no one less than the daughter of Pharaoh herself! And the heart of the princess feels compassion for the very child that her father wants to exterminate.
Then, the baby’s big sister Miriam emerges from the bullrushes and offers to get a wet nurse (her mom) to care for the baby. The princess agrees and even offers to pay for her services. She names the baby “Moses” which sounds very similar to the phrase “to draw from the water.”
The plot of the evil monarch is used by God to cause the future deliverer of God’s people to be raised in the Egyptian palace – wearing the best clothes, eating the finest food, being schooled by the best teachers, etc. Who would have thought that Pharaoh's worst could be turned into the best? The Lord of the universe! That’s who!
What horrible situation are you facing right now? I wonder how God is going to turn evil into good in your life. Check out Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28.
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